Microsoft to Deploy SPF for Hotmail Users

wayne writes "In a show of just how much Microsoft wants to put an end to email forgery, Hotmail, MSN and Microsoft.com will start enforcing Sender ID checks by Oct 1. In late May, MicroSoft announced that they would be adopting the Open Source SPF anti-forgery system (with a slight modification to make it Sender ID) and they have been working together with the IETF MARID working group to help create an RFC to define the Sender ID standard. Already tens of thousands of domain owners, such as AOL, Earthlink, and Gmail, have published SPF records, and thousands of systems are already checking SPF records. Publishing SPF records is easy, as is checking SPF records."

No posts =(

[Bwerf]

Damn, now I have to read the article.

I'm confused.. maybe I've had too much free beer

[peculiarmethod]

Wait a second. Microsoft is willingly employing open source market software? (looks at calendar).. hmm.. it's not early april. It's either armageddon, or old dogs can be taught new tricks!

pm

Misinterpreted headline

[Joey Patterson]

Microsoft to Deploy SPF for Hotmail Users

So, now that Microsoft already dominates the OS and free e-mail markets, it's trying to get into the sunscreen market as well?

I don't know which is worse, the cure or the disease.

SPF version?

[pio!pio!]

Next year MSFT will release SPF15 for those needing additional protection. SPF 30 and 45 to follow for those extremely pale nerds who never go in the sun

Brings a new meaning to

[GillBates0]

*hot*mail. I'll start using SPF-90 sunscreen while handling hotmail.

Re: Misinterpreted headline

[cuzality]

...it's trying to get into the sunscreen market as well?

Microsoft is just trying to protect its empire from the Sun.

Re:SPF version?

[TopShelf]

Obviously this is a major initiative by Microsoft to wipe out Solaris...

(sorry, couldn't help myself)

Yes, but

[Anonymous Coward]

Will it be SPF 15 or SPF 30?

What scares me....

[Like2Byte]

What scares me is that this could be the first step to controlling email via certain companies.

What if BIG CORPORATION A decides to sell its assets running the SPF machines to BIG CORPORATION B and BIG CORPORATION B combines As and Bs machines. Eventually one BIG CORPORATION will own all the SPF machines or a very large portion there-of. Then what?

What about all the little upstarts who don't want to be bothered with figuring out SPF or understanding people's desire to use it? What if a time sensitive e-mail (yeah, yeah, e-mail should not be used for critical info..blah blah blah) is slowed from getting from its origin to its destination? How could this system be abused - aside from the computing end of things?

E-Mail tax? You know, the tax that could be enacted to pay for the cost of running the system should GOVT n decide to use it? See where I'm going?

Maybe my fears are unfounded.

{Don's asbestos suit.}

Re:Easy?

[theantix]

I've found vim to be a good management tool that supports the adding of TXT records. If are willing to accept an inferior tool, emacs or nano would also probably work for editing TXT records, though I haven't verified that personally.

Re:PGP/GPG?

[PabloJones]

SPF is all nice and such, but it won't help stop spam at all.

But thankfully, it prevents skin cancer.